UnitedHealthCare CEO’s assassination: Hunt for elusive killer yields new evidence, but few answers
Police have released pictures of the assassin fleeing the scene in New York after he shot the boss of a healthcare firm.
The gunman – who is still on the run – was seen getting into the back of a taxi after killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.
He was wearing a face mask and appeared to have changed coat from the one he was wearing during the attack.
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It is thought the cab took him to a bus terminal.
Mr Thompson, 50, was gunned down outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, hours before New Yorkers gathered in the neighbourhood for the annual lighting of the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre.
The married father-of-two was fatally shot in the back and leg in the targeted attack.
On Friday night the NYPD provided a clearer idea of the assassin’s movements after he shot Mr Thompson at around 6.45am, local time.
They say he entered Central Park before being spotted exiting on 77th Street on the Upper West Side at 6.56am.
Minutes later he got in the cab. Additional footage also then emerged showing the suspect fleeing on an electric bike.
It showed a new angle of his escape path and he was seen darting across the street and into the early-morning darkness of Central Park.
On Saturday the NYPD discovered a backpack in Central Park they believe to have been discarded by the assassin.
However, the bag did not contain the murder weapon, according to reports.
Sources have since told Bloomberg and NBC News that a jacket was found inside alongside Monopoly money.
Another picture of the killer in the run up to the attack showed him smiling without a mask.
New York’s mayor Eric Adams said the “net is tightening” on the killer, telling The New York Post over the weekend that officers have a name for the suspect.
“We don’t want to release that now,” he said. “If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all.
“Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask.”
The NYPD’s chief detective Joseph Kenny has said that they believe the assassin is either a disgruntled ex-employee or an angry client.
A motive is yet to be released, as police found bullet casings at the scene inscribed with the words “deny”, “depose” and “delay”.
The messages bear similarity to Jay Feinman’s 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend, which details “why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it.”
Mr Thompson was named chief executive at UnitedHealthcare – one of the largest US health insurance companies – in 2021 and earned a reported $US10 million ($15m) a year.
For several years before that he ran the Medicare business within UnitedHealthcare. He was due to speak at an investor meeting at the Hilton Hotel soon after the shooting.
According to a press release from the firm prior to the attack, he was set to announce the company’s revenues – expected to be above $US450 billion. The FBI has announced it was offering $US50,000 for any information that leads to a conviction.
